Amal Clooney to lead Maria Ressa's int'l defense team

Prominent human rights lawyer Amal Clooney and another foreign barrister will be leading the international team of lawyers representing Rappler CEO and executive editor Maria Ressa, who faces a string of criminal cases filed by the Philippine government.

Clooney and Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC, both of whom specialize in international law and human rights, will lead the team that will be working with lawyers in the United States and in Manila, Doughty Street Chambers said in a press release.

Amal Clooney and @caoilfhionnanna to lead team of international lawyers representing @mariaressahttps://t.co/BVrkRiPrKh pic.twitter.com/ApoRqFWEUV

— Doughty Street Int'l (@DoughtyStIntl) July 8, 2019

Ressa and her news site are up against cyber libel and tax evasion cases before several Philippine courts, charges that she has repeatedly called acts of harassment or persecution by the government for Rappler's critical reporting.

Clooney and Gallagher will work with barristers Can Yeginsu and Kathrine O'Byrne and will coordinate with US lawyers at law firm Covington & Burling LLP, including Ambassador Daniel Feldmna, Peter Lichtenbaum, and Kurt Wimmer in Washington DC and Ressa's Philippine counsel.

“Maria Ressa is a courageous journalist who is being persecuted for reporting the news and standing up to human rights abuses," Clooney said in the statement. "We will pursue all available legal remedies to vindicate her rights and defend press freedom and the rule of law in the Philippines.”

In the release, Ressa said she is "delighted" that Clooney's team will be representing her at the international level. "I have been targeted and attacked simply for being an independent journalist," she said.

Asked for the specifics of the engagement, Rappler managing editor Glenda Gloria said the foreign lawyers will have a role to play in the international arena and that the local cases will continue to be defended by Philippine lawyers.

"Our international lawyers will look into how best to protect us under international law and institutions, and will work with our Philippine counsels towards this goal," Ressa said in a separate statement.

In 2015, Clooney brought a case before the United Nations challenging the detention of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for plunder. Arroyo was ordered released by the Supreme Court in 2016.

Clooney was also part of the legal team that represented two Reuters journalists convicted in Myanmar under a colonial-era official secrets law. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, the reporters, were freed from prison this year. —KG/KBK, GMA News